“Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.” After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” John 11:1-15  

“The Sunday School lesson for the first graders was on the plan of salvation. The teacher asked, “If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale, and gave all my money to the church, would I get into heaven?” ”No!” all the children answered. ”If I cleaned the church every day, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would I get into heaven?” Again, the answer was, “No!” “Well,” she continued, “then how can I get to heaven?” One boy confidently answered, “You’ve gotta be dead!”  

Listen for Him

“THE QUESTION IS not whether the things that happen to you are chance things or God’s things because, of course, they are both at once. There is no chance thing through which God cannot speak—even the walk from the house to the garage that you have walked ten thousand times before, even the moments when you cannot believe there is a God who speaks at all anywhere. He speaks, I believe, and the words he speaks are incarnate in the flesh and blood of our selves and of our own footsore and sacred journeys. We cannot live our lives constantly looking back, listening back, lest we be turned to pillars of longing and regret, but to live without listening at all is to live deaf to the fullness of the music. Sometimes we avoid listening for fear of what we may hear, sometimes for fear that we may hear nothing at all but the empty rattle of our own feet on the pavement. But be not affeard, says Caliban, nor is he the only one to say it. “Be not afraid,” says another, “for lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” He says he is with us on our journeys. He says he has been with us since each of our journeys began. Listen for him. Listen to the sweet and bitter airs of your present and your past for the sound of him.” (Buechner, Frederick. Listening to Your Life . HarperOne. Kindle Edition.)

One truth we all can count on is: you must die to get into heaven. Now, is that all we need to do to get into heaven? Must we earn our way? Do we need to have done “something” at “sometime” in our lives to have our names written in the “Book of Life?” There are many churches that teach and preach that if you say the “Sinners Prayer”, then you are well on your way to heaven. Others will tell you that you not only have to pray the “Sinners Prayer”, but you must join their church, accept their doctrine, follow their practice and pay your dues, and then you will get into heaven. 

For Lutherans it is not what we do that gets us into heaven, but what we hear, what we read, and what we have faith in. Lutherans believe that a sinner is justified by grace alone (sola gratia) through faith alone (sola fide) for the sake of Christ alone (solus Christus), a truth revealed to us in Scripture alone (sola Scriptura). And to begin the process of “regeneration” or renewal depends upon being exposed to the presence of the Holy Spirit that we hear through the Word of G-d. This presence of the Holy Spirit begins in our baptism and is encountered in Holy Communion, which gifts you and me the forgiveness of sins, new life and salvation. But it all begins by opening ourselves up to the Gospel of Jesus.

As Lutherans we believe that it is not our work that saves us — it is the saving work of Jesus that saves us. As such we trust and have faith in what Jesus Christ did for all people. When we have faith in Jesus, this leads us to do good works because Jesus has won that salvation for us.  

Pastor Dave 

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” John 1:1-5 

“So this moth goes into a podiatrist’s office. The doctor asks the moth, “What seems to be the problem?” The moth says, “Doc, I don’t know where to start. I feel like my whole life has been a waste of time. I’ve been at the same job for twenty years and I just hate it. I can barely summon the strength to drag myself in every day but I have no choice because I am drawn to it like a moth to, well, you know. The idea of doing this job for another year is hard to accept. I’ve grown apart from my wife. Doc, it just eats me up inside. I feel like my entire life is nothing more than a fragile light bulb hanging from an electrical cord.” The podiatrist says to the moth, “You do seem to have a lot of problems, but I’m just a podiatrist. You need to see a therapist, a psychiatrist even. Why did you come to me?” And the moth says, “The light was on.” (Richard Bonine Jr.)  

We just celebrated the Feast of the Incarnation – the Birth of the Christ Child – the baby born in a manger – and it has gone by too fast, has disappeared too soon, and cost me too much. It just seems like yesterday that we opened the packages, ate the turkey, and in many cases, stayed at home alone. And before we know it, we will soon take down the decorations, and get back to the business of fighting an invisible killer, Covid 19. I wish Christmas and New Years could have been more of a distraction, but it seems we are back into the same routine. Soon we will welcome the Magi – Epiphany is January 6. And, ready or not, in just three months, Jesus will be arrested, tried, and crucified on a cross. In my mind, it all happens too fast, too soon, and is too much. But that is the way it goes in the church year – but it is also how it happens in our lives. It all goes by too fast, is behind us too soon – light a flash of lightening. 

If you haven’t noticed, the Gospel of John is a different animal from the other Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), the ones we call the Synoptics. Unlike Matthew and Luke, for example, who give us the birth narratives, like good storytellers should, the Gospel of John begins with theology. And that confuses us. We can understand stories with angelic visitations, shepherds, and a baby born in a manger with cows and sheep watching on.  But John gives us, among other words, these gems:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.  The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.  He was in the world…yet the world did not know him.  But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.”

For most people, Christmas is like a flash of lightening, over in the blink of an eye. These celebrations should be more than a “flash-in-a-pan” moment – they should be the perpetual light that shines, even in the darkest of times. Even if the light of Christ feels as remote as a light across a vast ocean, or as fleeting as a camera flash, it still shines, on Christmas day — AND when we gather in His name, AND when we share that light in the breaking of the bread, AND when we share that light in helping others.

As we begin 2021 it is evident that we need more light in our lives — light that comes through the vaccination for Covid 19 which will bring relief and healing for so many throughout our country, and light that enlightens the darkness of the world. We need to bear the light of Christ to all people we encounter every day. As people of faith, we are called to bear that light no matter what darkness overtakes us. That is not just a challenge, it is a calling. As a follower of Jesus, I truly believe in the “Moth” principle: that as we bear the light of Christ, people will be drawn to that light – the light that is the light of Christ. 

Pastor Dave